Overview

UW-Madison STARTALK Korean Language & Culture Academy for High School Students

The 4-week summer UW-Madison STARTALK Korean Language & Culture Academy is a non-residential, non-credit program for high school students interested in exploring Korean language and culture. Through engaging, interactive learning activities, students will learn to communicate in Korean while exploring Korean cultural practices and traditions. No prior knowledge or experience with Korean is required or expected.

Thanks to funding from STARTALK, the program is offered at no cost to participants.

About the program: High school student participants in the Korean Language and Culture Academy will:

Learn Korean language through highly interactive activities. Language learning will be integrated with exploration of rich and exciting aspects of Korean culture.

Explore traditional and modern Korean culture through hands-on workshops.

Take part in field trips to explore Korean-speaking businesses and to practice the language in the “real world.”

Explore the global phenomenon of Korean popular culture, including K-pop and television dramas.

Synthesize learning through creative final video projects.

Please note that the KLCA is non-residential, and the program cannot help with housing.

Daily Schedule: To be announced.

Faculty: The Academy is directed by Dr. Byung-jin Lim, associate professor of Korean in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at UW-Madison. Instructors are experienced teachers of Korean for the UW-Madison Korean Language Program in the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures.

Eligibility: High school students (grades 9-12) with no or limited proficiency in Korean. (Interested students with prior experience with Korean should contact the program to determine eligibility.) Both rising 9th-graders and rising college freshmen are eligible.

Application: The application consists of the application form, high school transcript (unofficial is ok), letter of recommendation from a teacher, and short essay on why the applicant is interested in participating in the program. Applications will be accepted starting in early 2020.

Deadlines: To be announced.

Cost: Pending funding from STARTALK, the program will be offered at no cost to participants. In addition, the program offers Madison Metro bus passes to interested students, as needed, to help with travel to and from the program within the Madison area. Participants also receive a free lunch every day of the program! Discounted parking will be available on the UW-Madison campus on an as-requested basis.